Chapter 10

“Linda knows people,” Mama said forcefully. “Anyway, if it’s Charlie she’s thinking about, well, Charlie might be a little light in the loafers.”

“Linda thinks he’s gay?”

“If you want to use that word.”

“And she knows that…how?”

“She knows people. Her daughter went to school with someone who was doing that mortuary science program. Something like that.”

“And if he’s gay?”

“God bless him, I could care less.”

“Then what’s the point of this conversation?”

“You and Charlie have been spending a lot of time together. That’s the point.”

She paused again, turned to regard me carefully.

I had never been able to lie to Mama though surely there were times when I wanted to.

“I’ve been training him,” I said, feeling defensive.

“Dual Hood, I’m no fool,” she said softly. She only used my real name—Dual Hood—not Dew or Dewy (or Dew-Dew, when she was mad), but Dual Hood—when she was deadly serious. “You havebeen spending a lot of time with that young man.”